Leaving Home
by Syn4life
Summary: After Artemis' mother dies, and the team ruins her room, she runs away. A few years later the team gets a mission to recruit her new alter ego, what will happen? Rated teen to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**So... I know it's been done before, but read it anyway please. This is like, one of my first fanfictions** _ **ever,**_ **so no flaming. If you think it sucks, then don't read it.**

 **Oh! Also, in this story Artemis has powers, so be prepared for that. One of her powers will be that she can change her appearance, I'm not quite sure what the rest will be, because I'll be making them up as I go. Anyway, that's about it. Enjoy!**

"speech"

 _'thoughts'_

 **-YJ-**

 _ **Artemis-**_

 _'When the hell had school become such a nightmare?'_ I thought, as I once again got shoved into the lockers, my books flying everywhere. _'Oh, wait._ Now _I remember. Stupid scholarship.'_ Ever since I got that bloody scholarship and came here, people have been looking down at me like I was the piece of gum they scraped off their shoe. It was actually kinda funny at first, knowing that I could kill them 12 different ways with a pen. After a while though, it started getting really aggravating, and now I just want to beat them to a pulp every time they look at me funny. My mother, however, would not be very happy with me if I did that, and so I endured.

 _'My mom'_ the thought made me sigh. My mother and I got into a huge fight last night. I don't even remember how it started, only how it ended.

 _ **-Flashback-**_

 _"-mom you can't be serious-"_

 _"Artemis, shut up!" she shouted, and, stunned, I stopped talking. "That's enough Artemis." she sighed._

 _"But, mom-" I tried again, only to be cut off._

 _"_ _ **NO**_ _, Artemis, and that is final! I am tired of you always whining to me about everything!-"_

 _"I do not whine to you about everything, in fact I barely talk to y-"_

 _"_ _ **DO NOT INTERUPT ME!**_ _I am DONE! You're right, you barely talk to me, and when you do talk to me, it's to WHINE! First of all, you need to talk to your mother more Artemis, like a NORMAL teenager. I have fed you, clothed you, and put a roof over your head for so long, and HOW do you repay me?! By whining about school!" I just looked at my mom in disbelief._

 _"Are you kidding me?" I asked, glaring at her. " You've fed me, clothed me and put a roof over my head for so long? Really? Because I remember being raised by my abusive, assassin father after my mom was thrown in jail when I was young. I remember being starved and beaten for every infraction I made. I remember being forced to fight my older sister until one of us passed out. I remember being thrown into the woods for the summer, with daddy dearest checking every month to make sure I hadn't died. What I don't remember, though, is_ you _being there for any of it." By the time I had finished my rant, she was looking at me like I had kicked her dog. I don't know why she's feeling bad, she was the one who brought it up, not me._

 _"Artemis, I'm sorr-" she started, only for me to get angry again._

 _"You're sorry? Is that what you were going to say? Well, sorry doesn't cut it." I said as I walked towards the hallway, to my room. "Oh," I stopped to look at her again. "and by the way, I only talk to you about school because you ask, and I didn't want you to feel like I don't care." I then turned away, and walked into my room, leaving my mother behind._

 _ **-End Flashback-**_

By the time I had woken up, my mom had already gone to work. I sighed as I walked to the mostly empty parking lot. I don't have a car, unfortunately. We're to poor to afford one, and so I walk home. Today, however, I didn't want to go home, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to go. Then, suddenly a thought hit me, _'The cave!'_ but then I remembered that nobody wanted me there. Well, at least Wally and Roy don't want me there, and everyone else picked their side. _'But still,'_ I reasoned. _'Wally might not be there.'_ So, I decided I'd go to the cave, if somewhat reluctantly.

I started making my way through Gotham, towards the zeta beam, when I saw Dick Grayson staring at me. When he saw me looking, he turned away quickly, pretending to do something else. I rolled my eyes at him. Honestly, he's terrible at hiding his identity. I know that he's Robin, have ever since I first saw him. He has the same build, same hair and complexion. It's like he thinks that if he takes his glasses off, and slicks his hair back, no one will recognize him. Which, I am very disappointing to say, is true. He, of course, doesn't know that I know who he is, so he stays away from me, watching me creepily throughout the day.

I continued on my way to the zeta beam, until I got there. I stood in front of the out of order telephone booth, and stared at it. _'Oh, come on!'_ I thought, _'Am I honestly scared of gong in there? Even if Wally's in there, the worst he could do is call me a replacement.'_ How I couldn't be more wrong.

 _ARTEMIS B-0-7_

 _'Where is everyone?'_ I wondered, looking around the empty living room. _'Maybe no one's here.'_ I thought happily. _' Maybe, Conner and Megan are on a date, and Kaldur's in Atlantis! Wally, and Robin could be hanging out in Gotham, or Keystone.'_ I should have known better than to get my hopes up. As I was walking to my room quietly, I heard something coming from one of the rooms. I stepped closer and heard talking. It was the team. Now normally I wouldn't care about what they talk about, and I was about to leave, until I heard my name. I walked over to the door quietly, as to not alert them to my presence, and pressed my ear against the door.

"-Hahaha! That was great! So, what do you think Artemis will do when she sees the _gifts_ we left in her room? Hahaha!" That was Wally. Ugh, his laugh is so annoying- wait... did he say my room?

"I think she's gonna flip and start yelling at us, but that's gonna be hard, considering I spiked her food with stuff that will make it impossible to talk for at _least_ a week. It's gonna be hilarious watching her scream at us silently." was the reply he got from Robin. He spiked my food? When? And how the _heck_ did he get here before me?

" Don't you guys think this is a _little_ harsh?" said Conner.

" Yeah, I feel kind of bad for doing this." _'Et tu Megan,'_ I thought, making sure she couldn't hear me.

" Do not worry Megan. It is what's best for the team. With Artemis gone, we will have Red Arrow, which will help us greatly." I couldn't take anymore. I got up and left, running silently to my room. As the door opened, my heart stopped, and I felt anger build up inside of me. My room was completely trashed.

My Alice in Wonderland book that Jade gave me was soaked with pages torn out of it. My dresser was broken, and my bed was covered in goo. The thing that got me really angry, though, was what they did to my walls. I painted my walls. I spent days working on a beautiful mural that, to any person that saw it, looked like a nice but random mural. To me however, that was my life story, I poured my heart and soul into it, and they ruined it. They took paint and threw it onto my walls, covering up my masterpiece. Then, in black paint, it said 'We don't want you here. Leave!' It was all just too much. I decided I needed a shower, a nice hot shower, where the burning of my flesh will take my mind off of things. When I got into the bathroom, I checked my shampoo to make sure they didn't put any dye in it. They did. I sighed and got another bottle and checked that one, it was shampoo. I turned on the water, and allowed myself to cry for the first time in years.

When I finished showering, I wrote a resignation up for Bruce. After I was done with that I ignored my ruined room, and walked out the door. Luckily for me, no one was in the living room, so I got to the zeta tube without a problem. As I walked home, all I could think about was getting home to my room, and crying myself to sleep. As I approached the door to our apartment, I noticed it was slightly ajar, which immediately put me on edge. I slowly opened it fully to reveal my ruined living room. The couch was ripped, all the pictures were cracked, and the coffee table was flipped. What got my attention, though, was the flipped wheelchair in the corner of the room.

"No." I muttered, running towards my mothers prone form, flipping her onto her back so I could look at her. I wish I hadn't. There was a hole in her chest, where her heart had apparently been ripped out. Carved into her forehead, was the Shadows insignia. "Oh, God no. Please. No no no no no. This can't be happening." I started frantically looking around for anything that would indicate this was a dream. I found nothing. This was really happening. "Okay Artemis, pull yourself together." I said, roughly pushing myself off of the floor.

I ram to my room, and packed all my stuff. I then looked around to make sure no one was watching out of habit, and then carefully lifted a piece of the wooden floor up to reveal a little hidey hole. Inside of said hidey hole, was millions of dollars. When I was still living with my dad, one of my uncles died, and left all of his fortune to me. He was an entrepreneur and a millionaire. I, of course, hid this from my father. Not only am I a millionaire, but I am also the legal owner of many estates throughout the U.S. I took all of my money, and fled.


	2. Chapter 2

**So... I forgot to put this in the last chapter, but I don't own Young Justice. Now, on with the story.**

"speech"

 _'thoughts'_

" _telepathic conversations"_

 **-YJ- Third Person POV**

Artemis was annoyed. No, scratch that, she wasn't just annoyed, she was _really frickin annoyed._

After she left her apartment, she headed towards the closest parking lot, and stole a car. Not very morally sound, but who cares? The person had insurance... she hoped. Anyway, she started driving in the general direction of Florida, where one of her houses was, when she noticed she was almost out of gas. So she drove to the nearest gas station, and decided she should probably change her look, in case the league was looking for her. So, sitting in her car, she looked around, finding she was the only one in the parking lot. Perfect.

Suddenly she started to change, dropping her unnatural appearance of half Vietnamese, to the look she was born with. Her skin began to pale, her hair began to shorten and darken, and her eyes changed colors. She now had curly, black hair that went down to the middle of her back, and bright, violet, almond shaped eyes. She also grew a few inches, now standing at 5'10, as apposed to the 5'8 she was before.

After she changed, she got out of her stolen car, and walked into the store.

Which leads her to why she is currently internally ripping out her hair in frustration. When she walked into the store, she browsed for a bit, looking at all the things they had, and decided to get a map, to know for certain she was heading towards Florida. She tried to call out to the cashier, to see how much one would cost, but found that she couldn't speak. It appeared that whatever Robin put in her food had started to work, and she was not a very happy person because of it.

She was currently thinking of ways to get bird boy back, but had yet to come up with a way that didn't involve fire, tar, and colorful vernacular. _'maybe he could use a bit of fir, tar, and colorful vernacular.'_ (1) she thought to herself, smirking evilly. _'but that's not the problem right now. How the hell am I supposed to get gas, when I can't talk to the cashier?'_ She came up with a plan, a very simple plan, but brilliant. She walked up to the cash register, causing the worker to look up from their phone, and proceeded to use telepathy to communicate.

 _"Hello."_ she 'said', moving her mouth as she did so to make it look like she was talking. _"I'd like to buy this map, and I'd also like $30 on pump 6."_ she then handed the guy $35.95, and walked out the door.

After she got gas and started driving again, she pulled out the map in her pocket, and looked at it. She had a long way to go if she wanted to get to Florida, and it would take at least 2 weeks to get there by driving, but she could do it.

 **-YJ-**

Over the weeks she had developed a plan, for when she got to Florida. She would keep her natural look- which no one knew about, by the way- for school and public appearances, but she would make her alter ego look slightly like Artemis, the hero, but not too much.

After the fifteenth day of driving, she finally got to her destination. Miami. Her uncle had left an estate to her in his will, and she finally arrived. She knew her uncle was rich, but she had never seen one of his houses before. It was huge! It was more of a mansion than a house, most people would feel lonely in a place this size, but she loved it!

 _'Okay, Artemis, time to stat a new life.'_ she thought as she walked through the front door.

 **-YJ-**

 **At the Cave-**

Wally walked into the kitchen and sat down, eating an apple. He suddenly looked up, as if realizing something, and said,

"Hey, has anyone seen the harpy?" looking around at the other members of his team.

"No, I haven't seen her in a while, she hasn't shone up at school either." Robin said, looking a little worried.

"Do you think she's gone?" Wally asked hopefully. Robin suddenly looked uncomfortable, looking at something behind Wally, just as someone cleared their throat. Wally gulped and turned around, only to come face-to-face with Batman in all of his creepy glory. Wally then proceeded to let out a small "EEP" and quickly backed up.

"Now why, pray tell, would Artemis be gone?" Batman asked, the glare he was sending at Wally promised pain if he so much as thought of lying.

"Because she finally learned that she was unwanted and finally left?" was Wally's reply. That answer did not please Batman, as he intensified his glare, and then turned around and stormed off in the direction of the rooms. The team hurried to follow him, desperate to keep him away from Artemis's room. They followed as he reached Artemis's door and typed in the code, all the while trying to dissuade him from entering. They gave up though, as the door slid open, and he walked in. He turned on the lights and froze, looking at the mess of a room, but more importantly, the walls.

Batman was silent for a while, and when he spoke, it startled the team. "When..." he said deadly quiet, "did you do this?" he then turned to the team, glaring at them so hard they thought they would melt.

The team all looked at Wally, seeing as this was his idea. "Um... last Tuesday." he said, wringing his hands nervously.

Batman walked over to Artemis's desk, where a neatly folded paper was sitting, with the name _Bruce_ on it. He quickly read the paper, and then,

"Have you any idea as to what you have done?" Batman asked, glancing at the team and then the walls. "Not only did you ruin the mural that Artemis had worked on for days, but you did so on the day her mother was murdered." There was varying reactions to that bit of news.

"What?"

"She painted that herself?"

"Her mother was murdered?"

"Dammit, Wally, I told you this was a bad idea!"

All of these were things that were said, and after they found out her mom died, they all felt really bad, especially Wally. He started to realize now that if e wanted her off the team, he could have either talked to Bats about it, or talked to her about it. He took it too far, and he was just starting to realize the consequences of doing so.

"Team," Batman said, angrily looking at them, "there will be no more missions until you can prove that you can be trusted again." he then swept out of the room, as only Batman can do, leaving the team to their own devices.

As Bruce was walking down the hall, he was struggling not to cry, as he thought of Artemis like a daughter. _'Why didn't she come to me?'_ he thought, and then mentally smacked himself upside the head. _'Of course she didn't come to you, you never gave her a hint that you cared.'_ Batman then walked to the zeta beam, and beamed to the Bat-cave, he had an archer to find.

 **So BOOM! I'm done.**

 **Next chapter is going to be a few years in the future, so, that's cool. I'd be really happy if you reviewed, but, you know, it's fine if you don't, I'm just glad people are actually reading this!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 everyone! Woohoo! So this is going to be 2 years after Artemis left, and she's going to have more powers.**

 **She's going to be able to change into anything, including animals and shadows… and any of the elements. She can also create lightning, and control all of the elements, she also has a sonic scream, similar to Black Canary's. That's it… I think.**

 **I don't own Young Justice.**

Two years.

It's been two years since she left the team.

Two years since she left everything to go to Miami.

That was a mistake. Not the leaving part, that was a good thing, but the going to Miami, _that_ was bad.

Very. Bad.

She went to highschool for about a month, moonlighting as the Artemis-esque superhero… heck, she doesn't even remember what she was called! Anyway, after only a month, her dad found her… yeah, she felt pretty pathetic.

She was tortured for months, many, many months. The Shadows would ask for information about the team, and, as much as she disliked them, she said nothing, or she would just insult them. They didn't like that… at all.

Long story short, she eventually escaped, killing her father in the process, and she had a lot of new scars. Well, okay, that wasn't true, _she_ didn't kill her father, Cheshire did. Apparently, Cheshire _didn't_ like watching her sister get tortured, who woulda thunk it?

So, after they escaped, they decided to blow up the base they were at, and then flee into the night like a couple of wrong-doers, which,

admittedly, they are, kind-of. They then decided to go back to Miami, just because they could.

They had been in Miami for about 9 months, and Artemis was loving it. She was now a senior in high school, and she was known as Amber, and her appearance has changed as well. She was now 5' 7'' and she was tan and had dirty blond hair, and bright green eyes, as well as a very athletic body. She also adopted the persona of a surfer, going to the beach often to keep up appearances.

Her hero persona changed also, she is now Echo, known for her sonic screams and dissapearing act. Her superhero form looked way different than her civilian form, with pitch black hair, electric blue eyes, and was the same height. When she got angry, her eyes sparked and turned completely blue, blocking out the whites in her eyes.

She was enjoying Miami, she had new friends, and Cheshire was really fun to live with. She thought about the team sometimes, but then immediately scolded herself. It's not like they miss her right?

 **-YJ-**

They missed her.

It's been two years. _Two years_ since they drove Artemis off the team.

Two years since their team descended into a joyless black hole of loneliness and despair...

Ok, so he might be exaggerating just a _little_ bit, but only a little.

The team has seemed so lifeless ever since Artemis left, everything so dull. There were no more amusing arguments between Wally and her.

There were no more technical discussions and trolling with Robin, and no more sounds of Conner and Artemis destroying the training room in anger. Megan was sad that her 'Earth sister' was gone, and locked herself in her room crying for weeks. The team put on a happy face when Zatanna and Rocket joined the team, but they never forgot her. Sometimes they would wonder why she left, and then they would smack themselves upside the head.

Everyday they hoped that she would contact them and tell them she's okay…

She never did.

 **This is kind-of a filler chapter, but whatever. If you guys liked it, please review, actually, even if you don't like it review. Do it for the metaphorical puppies.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, everybody! How are my favorite people in the world? Don't actually answer that, I can't hear you.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter, I don't own Young Justice, aaannnddd... that's all I got**

 **-YJ-**

Wally walked into the briefing room fashionably late, where everyone was sat around the table. Batman was standing at the back of the room on the computer, ignoring everyone for the moment.

Suddenly, Batman turned around and a picture appeared on the giant computer screen at the front of the room.

"This," said Batman, "Is Echo." On the screen it showed a picture of a girl with pitch black hair, electric blue eyes, and all of her statistics, including height, species, and her powers that they knew of. "She is a hero in Miami, and is rumored to also team up with Cheshire occasionally."

"So wait," said Robin, interrupting Batman, "this Echo person is a _hero_ , but teams up with a well-known _villain_?"

"Actually," Batman started, glaring at Robin for interrupting, "Cheshire is no longer a Shadow, and is known to help people when she can. Anyway, Echo is a very high priority right now, and your mission is to find her. I want her found by Saturday." It was Thursday.

"Wait, so you want us to bring her in?" asked Zatanna, confused.

"No. She's going to be your new teammate." and with that, Batman glided out of the room before the protests could start.

After he left, everybody looked at each other, stunned.

"What the heck!" Wally shouted. "Why should we have to have a new member?!" He then started to pace, pulling on his hair.

"Hey, Wally, why don't you want another-" and then Robin cut himself off, staring at the table. The rest of the team looked at the table as well, except for Wally, who was still pacing. When the original team's eyes fell on the chair at the end of the table, their faces grew sad. The table only had eight chairs, one for every member, plus an extra one at the end of the table. The extra one was where Artemis used to sit. No one had sat in that spot since she left, but now, with the new team member, that spot would be filled. "Oh, right. Sorry buddy."

Wally looked at the table and sighed, glancing at Robin while saying, "Ugh, it's fine Rob. I just, ugh, it's gonna be so hard to see someone replacing Artemis. Huh, who would've thought I would ever say that?"

"Um, who's Artemis?" Rocket asked, looking confused next to Zatanna.

"She was a… very good friend of ours." Aqualad started, looking sad.

"Yeah, too bad it took us too long to figure that out." sighed Robin, staring at the ground.

"She was our friend," Wally spoke quietly, "and we threw it in her face. We were rude to her, called her names, and made fun of her at every chance. Me more than anyone. I was upset that she joined the team instead of Red Arrow, and somehow got it into my head that if she was gone, Roy would join. I called her a replacement, pranked her all the time, and ruined anything good for her."

Rocket and Zatanna were shocked, how could they do that to a person?

"One day," Robin continued, when he saw that Wally wouldn't. "we went to far on a prank. You see, she was an artist as well as an archer. She spent days painting the walls of her room, barely coming out. She was also in love with Alice in Wonderland, though none of us has any idea why. One day, when she left, we went into her room and destroyed it." He paused, hearing the gasps from Zatanna and Rocket.

"We soaked her only copy of Alice in Wonderland, and tore pages out. We covered her bed in slime and broke her dressers. We painted over her walls and put a mean message on them. We were awful." said Superboy, holding a crying Martian.

"S-She was our friend, and we were terrible to her." said a sobbing Megan.

"We got what we wanted. She left, but it wasn't as great as we thought it would be. After a few days we started to feel really bad. When we found out from Batman that her mother had died on the same day as the prank, we felt even worse. Ever since then her seat has never been filled, and we've been hoping that she would come back… she has yet to return."

After that, there was an awkward silence, broken only by the sound of Megan crying.

"Well," said Zatanna, coming out of her shock, "Let's fly down to Miami tonight, and look for her tomorrow." Everyone agreed and started toward the hangar, where the bioship sat. On the way out, Robin noticed a file on Echo, and took it with him.

 **-YJ-**

Jade Nguyen walked into the front office of Miami Senior High School, where Amber went to school.

"Hello Jade." Sasha, the secretary, said. Jade came in a lot to take Amber out of school, so the two of them talked quite a bit while waiting for Amber to get out of classes.

"Hey, Sash." Jade replied, giving a little wave.

"Need Amber?" Sasha asked, already calling her class.

"You know me so well." smirked Jade, sitting in one of the chairs. "So, how goes it?"

"Pretty good, Bobby and I broke up." she said looking sad. Bobby was her boyfriend for five years, and they were engaged. They made the perfect couple, or so everyone said, Jade had never met Bobby before.

"Well that sucks. I'm sure he was a dirt bag who didn't deserve you."

"Thanks Jade, you always know what to say." replied Sasha, semi-sarcastically.

"Of course she does, where did you think I got it from?" Amber questioned, appearing out of nowhere. Amber liked Sasha, she had spunk.

"Well, Sash, I would love to stay and chat, but we got to get home, pronto." Jade then proceeded to grab Amber's arm and walk out the door. "Okay, here's the deal." she said when they got to the car. "Bats found us through Echo, found out who we are, and called me. He warned me that before he found out who we were, he sent the team to find us, and ask you to join them. They are supposed to be here tomorrow. So we are going to spend tonight going through how to deal with this, whether you like it or not."

The rest of the drive was spent in silence, allowing Amber to get lost in her thoughts. The only thought going through her head at the moment was, ' _Screw you Bruce, screw you.'_

 **Boom! Another chapter done! Review... or don't, but I would really like it if you did. Oh! and if you review, please let it be positive. Thank you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sup losers? Just kidding. You're all amazing.**

 **-YJ-**

"Wow," Robin said, flipping through the file on Echo. "That is _sooo_ not fair!"

"What's not fair?" Megan questioned, looking at Robin.

"Echo has so many powers, it's not even funny. Telepathy, shape-shifting, flight, control over elements, teleportation…" he listed. " and those are just the ones we know of!" He then turned to flip through the file on her, which had very little in it. They didn't know her secret identity, or anything like that. Only some of her powers and her hero name, and species, which was human.

"Wait!" Wally sat straight up, causing everyone to stare at him. "If she can shape-shift, how are we going to find her?" he looked around the room seeing realization come on to every ones face.

"Yes, that could be a problem." agreed Aqualad. "But let us deal with that when we get there."

They spent the rest of the trip in silence, thinking of ways to find her.

A few hours later they arrived at Miami and Megan suggested they stop for the night. Everyone agreed. They were tired, they would deal with planning in the morning.

 **-YJ-**

"Is this really necessary?" Artemis asked, feeling that this was a bit overkill.

"Yes. Of course it's necessary." sniffed Jade. "What happens if, when you're patrolling tomorrow, they ambush you, and try to talk to you?"

"Then I will silently stare at them or, better yet, disappear like the Chesire cat." Artemis joked, referring to how Jade always says that. "Anything other than what you're suggesting." She then looked pointedly to the other side of the room, where destroyed androids designed to look like the team were. "Look at them." Artemis laughed, "They look like something from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. Honestly, they look bad."

"Okay."Cheshire admitted, "Maybe it _was_ overkill." ' _That's the understatement of the century'_ Artemis thought as she observed the remains. There were robotic body parts spread throughout the room, some with scorch marks on them, and others with daggers sticking out of their cranium. It was a sight to behold."Okay. Fine. You win, I won't push you anymore. You're a big girl. You can handle them on your own." you could tell that she was still worried though, so Artemis thought of a compromise.

"Okay, since you are so obviously worried, you can patrol with me tomorrow. That way, if the team tries anything funny, you'll be there to help me. Deal?" Arty asked looking at her sister.

"Deal." They shook on it.

"Well, if that's all, I'm going to go to bed. I'm beat."

"'k. Night Arty."

"Night Cheshy."

"Don't call me that!"

"I do what I want." and with that they split ways to go to their rooms Artemis went to sleep that night, dreaming of what tomorrow would bring.

 **(I was gonna end it here, but I didn't, 'cause that would be mean.)**

 **-YJ-**

"OH MY GOD!" is the shout that caused the team to wake up and get into fighting positions.

"What Wally? What's wrong?" everyone looked around for an attacker, but there was no one there.

"I just realized something, Rob!" Wally shouted excitedly.

"That you're annoying everyone?"

"No! Something about Echo!" Wally said, sticking out his tongue, then staring into space. After a few minutes of silence someone finally spoke.

"So… uh, what did you realize?" Rob asked, breaking Wally from his trance.

"Oh! Um, I realized it doesn't matter if we know her secret identity! We can just find her when she's patrolling tonight!" he stated, obviously

pleased with himself.

"What if she doesn't patrol tonight?" asked Superboy.

"It _is_ a Friday. I would be out with my friends." stated Zatanna.

"Same." Rocket and Zatanna high fived and started talking about what they did on Friday nights.

"Yes. But may I remind you that there is no one else to protect the city, so she will most likely be out." said Aqualad, "We will patrol tonight as well. If we see any trouble, we go towards it. If she is there then we watch, wait for her to finish, and then talk to her." he looked around the room, eyes landing on the clock, and said "Why don't we get some sleep? It is still early, and we have a long night ahead of us."

Everyone mumbled their agreement, and went back to sleep.

 **-YJ-**

Ugh. School is taking for-e-ver. Or at least it seemed like it to Artemis - I mean Amber, it's Amber, she's at school. It felt like school was three times longer than usual, but she was sure it was still only an eight hour day. ' _Come on clock, go faster!'_ begged Amber in her last period as the second hand ticked closer to the 12. It was the last minute of school, and it was painfully slow. ' _Ugh. I should have stayed home toda-'_

BRING. Went the bell.

' _YES! HIZZAH! THE DAY HAS COME TO AN END! I'M_ _ **FREE!**_ '

Wow. When did she get so dramatic? And did she just say hizzah? Man she needs to get out more. amber ran out to the parking lot where she knew her sister was waiting. When she saw Jade's car she ran over, opened the door and hopped in as fast as she could.

"Well, someone's in a hurry." Jade teased driving forwards.

"Oh, shut up!" Amber said sticking her tongue out at her last living relative.

"Wow, Arty. Real mature."

"I know. I've grown a lot since last year."

"I would've hated to see you last year then."

"You did see me last year."

"Did I? Huh, who knew."

"I knew."

"You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think I had to. You were there."

"Was I? Was I really?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"I specifically remember that time when we went the Mary's Milkshakes, and a guy started hitting on you, and then you hit him in his-"

"I thought we agreed we wouldn't ever talk about that again."

"Aha! So you do remember!"

"Oh shut up. We're home." Cheshire said jumping out of the car and flying to the door to unlock it.

"Well," Artemis mocked, "someone's in a hurry."

Cheshire turned around and stuck her tongue out at her "Oh, shut up!"

"Wow, Cheshy. Real mature."

"I know. I've grown a lot since last year." she sniffed then walked inside, a chuckling Artemis following after her. Artemis closed the door behind

her, and walked up the stairs to her room. When she got there she changed out of her school clothes and into her pj's then went to bed.

"Wake up Sunshine." a voice called, disturbing her peaceful slumber. "It's time to patrol." and just like that Artemis was fully awake.

"Okay, let me get changed, I'll meet you dowm stairs in ten."

"'k" She was then left to her own devices. She got out of bed, shifted into her Echo persona and then got dressed in her new costume. While

Cheshire stuck with her green kimono and mask, Artemis has changed what she wears.

She now wears a snug black tanktop made of kevlar, black flexible cargo pants tucked into boots, a black utility belt, fingerless black gloves and a black band that goes around her upper left arm. On her head she has a half mask that covers her nose and mouth, leaving her eyes to be seen. During the winter, which is right now, she wears a protective black jacket with a thin hood on it.

After she got dressed, which includes the jacket - it was 28 degrees outside - she went down stairs, and her and Cheshire left.

 **-YJ-**

"Okay team. Time to go."

the team had just spent the last hour getting ready to find Echo. It was now 11:30, they figured she would be out by now.

They all filed onto the bioship feeling excitement creep into them, all except Wally. He still didn't want anyone taking Artemis' spot on the team.

' _Man, I was a jerk.'_ he thought to himself. He really was too, all of them were. Now they had to live with the consequences.

They were flying around town looking for trouble when suddenly, there was a big explosion on the other side of town. The bioship shook terribly, the team struggled to keep their balance.

"Miss. Martian, to the explosion." Aqualad commanded.

"On it." was the response he got. They then zoomed towards the explosion, wanting to see what was up.

When they got there, what they saw surprised them. There was a flaming warehouse with millions of dollars worth of drugs in it and a pile of

criminals knocked out outside the building, far enough away to not be injured by the fire. There was also a note that said:

' _You're Welcome. :)_

 _Echo'_

"WOW, she works fast!" Wally said, stating what everyone was thinking. Then the team heard sirens and decided to talk on the roof of the building over. When they got to the top, they started to talk about what to do.

"I think we should cause trouble, just so Echo will come to us and we can talk." stated Rocket, getting weird looks from the team.

"No! That's a terrible idea-"

"Guys." said Superboy, trying to get there attention.

"-If we cause trouble, then she'll never come with us!" Robin continued as though he was never interrupted.

"Guys."

"Well, I'm sorry. It was just an idea."

" _Guys_."

"Yeah, a stupid idea."

" _PEOPLE!"_

"What?" everyone asked, staring at Superboy.

"We could talk to her now, she's on the next roof over. I think she's patrolling with Cheshire."

"Oh, ok yeah, let's do that."

With that Megan levitated everyone silently over to the next roof, where they could see to figures. When they got there they heard talking, well,

more like arguing.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad." said the one that was obviously Cheshire.

"Oh, yes, of course. Because BLOWING UP A BUILDING with PEOPLE INSIDE is not that BAD!" yelled the other one, who they assumed to

be Echo.

"Why are you so angry, anyway?"

"Because I was one of the people inside the building!"

"It couldn't have hurt you."

"That's not the point! I like to be warned about these things."

"Yeah, I really don't care." when Cheshire said that, Echo stumbled backwards with a hand over her heart.

"You don't CARE?!" she wailed. "I thought we were FRIENDS, but I guess I thought wrong." she said, sniffling.

"How very melodramatic."

"Thank you, I've been working on my sarcasm."

"Well stop working on your sarcasm, you're gonna scare away the spectators."

"What? I will not." Echo then turned to the team who was gaping at them in surprise and said. "I'm not scaring you away, am I?"

No one said anything for a moment, and then Echo said, "I think I broke 'em." and with that Cheshire and Echo broke into laughter. That startled the team out of their stupor, and they watched the two heroines roll on the floor in laughter.

The laughter stopped after a minute, and the heroines composed themselves again. The two teams just stared at each other in a silence that was quickly becoming awkward. Suddenly, something on Echo's belt started to ring.

"Oh, hold on. I got to take this." She took out a phone and then walked to the other side of the roof. The team listened in on her half of the conversation. "Talk to me… oh hey Bats…" That really surprised the team. She knew Batman? "Yeah, no, they're here… Really, a team?... If they ask, then yes… Happy Harbor?... I can't-... but-... sure thing Bats… can Cheshire come to?... No not to join the team, I mean, well, unless she wants to, which she won't… Okay, yeah that's acceptable...sure, oh and hey, tell Selina I said hi… yep.'k bye Bats, see ya soon."

After she finished the call she came back over to us and stared at us expectantly.

"Well, I know you heard the conversation, so just ask me what you came to ask me, and then we can all leave." said Echo, acting like this was something that happened often.

"Oh, um, ok." said Robin, kind-of nervous. If this was someone The Batman let talk to him so casually, this was someone he respected. Batman didn't even let Robin talk to him like that, and he's Robin's dad!

"We would like for you to join our covert operations team in Happy Harbor. If you will?" Aqualad said, looking inquisitively at Echo.

"Sure thing. When do we leave?"

Everyone was surprised at her willingness to join so easily. "Right now would be great." Zatanna said, coming out of her shock.

"Okay." Echo shrugged and then turned to stare at Cheshire. It looked like they were having a telepathic conversation. Which they were. It went

something like this,

' _**Hey, Cheshy, you ok? You've been kind-of quiet.'**_

' _**Well, I just don't know if you should go back with these guys. They hurt you pretty bad last time.'**_

' _**Yeah, but last time, I didn't have you there with me.'**_

' _**That's true.'**_

' _**Of course it is, now will you just get on the ship? We're going to Happy Harbor. Yay. Please note the painfully obvious sarcasm in**_

 _ **that cry of joy.'**_

' _**No, I'll think you're genuinely pleased to go there.'**_

' _**But you know that I'm not.'**_

' _**I don't care what you say. You're never living it down.'**_

' _**Oh cut it out.'**_ with that, Echo closed the link, and followed the team to the bioship. Cheshire was following behind at a more sedate pace, not wanting to be in an enclosed space with the kids she used to beat up.

When they reached the bioship, everyone piled in and took a seat. Echo, Wally, Robin, Zatanna, Rocket, and Megan all fell asleep really fast.

That left just Superboy, Aqualad and Cheshire awake.

Yeah, it's gonna be a long ride.

"So… sorry I poisoned you when we first met."

A really long ride.

 **So, this chapter was kind of long, but, whatever. Review please.**


End file.
